This year history will be made at the 55th National Fieldays® in Hamilton, with UK Tornedo Fencing competition winners Mark Evans and Nic Quan to compete in the Fieldays® Silver Spades™ Doubles championship, as part of the prize package they won in July last year. Up to now, Silver Spades™ has only ever had resident Kiwis competing.
They are coming with a reasonable amount of competition success under their respective belts, having won the last five competitions entered. All I can say is Wow, come on Kiwis, start sharpening those spades and augers.
They arrive on June 5th and will stay in South Auckland for the first few days, to get familiar with the tools that New Zealand Fencing Competitions (NZFC) members will be supplying, and will go to our training camp for hands-on practice.
Both Mark and Nic, ages 42 and 35 respectively, have their own businesses. Mark lives in rural Herefordshire, West Midlands, and Nic lives further west in Hereford, not far from Wales.
They both use Tracked Protech Post Drivers, with drills and encounter varying ground conditions, e.g., soft clay, very hard limestone, chalk, sandstone, etc. They predominantly do farm fencing for farmers, lifestyle blocks, estates (like our stations), and National Trust.
Mark is married with two children and is bringing his 13-year-old son, Will, with him, whereas Nic lives with his fiancé and two-year-old daughter and is tying the knot this coming August – we wish them all the best.
For all three of them, it is their first time in New Zealand and they are keen to see our beautiful countryside and meet the guys and gals that fence it.
It is very much a whirlwind trip, with them leaving on June 26th. During their stay, we arranged for them to work on the fence lines with various contractors, which is what they requested.
When you see them at the Fieldays, certainly introduce yourselves, and if their terminology is baffling you somewhat, this might help:
KIWI | ENGLISH |
Angle Post | Turning Post |
Ground | Floor |
Paddock | Field |
Post Driver | Knocker |
Workers | Lads (pronounced Luds) |
Stay | Strut |
Truck | Lorry |
Manually working | Grafting |
Published in the Training & Events Feature in WIRED Issue 69 / June 2023 by Fencing Contractors NZ